New Friends

I'm trying really hard to make new friends in my new area.  It's hard but it's helped me step outside my comfort zone.  On Monday night we had a few people over to get to know them.  We had both of our neighbor families and 2 other families.  I made my famous Caramel Brownies, Corey's famous chocolate chip cookies, and we had ice cream.  It was fun to get to know our neighbors.

On Tuesday Lauren and I went to a playgroup in the area.  We decorated sugar cookies and made valentines.  It was fun for Lauren to run around and play with some of her new friends and for me to interact with other moms.

Lauren had a lot of fun decorating the cookies!  She didn't like the cookies as much but she loved the little conversation hearts that go on top.

Playing Peek-a-boo.

Our friends Holly and little Abby.

On Wednesday we took Sugar Cookies over to another set of neighbors that we had never met before.  They are really nice and found out that they have a daughter that is babysittig age.  Lauren took right to them.  It's nice to know that I have a babysitter that I can use now that is close to us and close to her parents.

With all of the goodies I've made I've had a really hard time not eating everything!  But I've been able to practice some self control.  I've been working REALLY hard on my weight loss goals.  For Christmas and my birthday I got a Bodybugg.  I LOVE IT!!  If you've ever seen The Biggest Loser, it's what the contestants wear on their arms.  It tracks all the calories that I burn 23 hours a day(minus my shower and hot tub time), 7 days a week.  Then I add every single bite/drink into a program to keep track of the calories that I eat.  It's been a challenge at times but I have learned SO MUCH.  I've been 100% faithful with it every single day for almost 2 months (which is longer than I've ever done for anything).  I made a very realistic short term goal to loose 20 pounds by the second week of April (that's 1.5 pounds a week).  I've kept on track and have even broken a weight barrier that I've been at for 3 years.  Wow.  I'm not even working out too much.  Some days when I am low in calorie burn I play Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii (which has been fun), go to my mom's and walk/run on her treadmill, or do some household chores (it's amazing how much you can burn from cleaning the house and doing laundry).  One of my new friends is also a personal trainer so she said she'd help me out with a running program.  I used to love to run but now my lungs are a little weak.  Since Amy-E is giving us her old treadmill this is going to be a lot easier to do.  I keep telling Brian that there is a skinny girl inside me somewhere.  I know I can find her.  I am blessed that Brian loves me just the way I am though.  I like him... A LOT!  And little Lauren... there are no words for how much I love that little girl!  We're blessed to have her in our lives.